Are you a fluffer? No, not THAT kind, we are talking writing here! When you are having trouble hitting your minimum word count do you go back through your article and add extra adjectives, separate contractions into two words, or maybe even add BS and meaningless words just to hit work count? Come on, we have all done it, and once and a while we might still do it. But now is the time to really think about how you write your articles and make some improvements to tighten up your words and improve your writing skills.
what are word for? (Photo credit: Darwin Bell)
Google changes are still making content companies and online business owners reevaluate their website content and article quality. Fluff is out of fashion. Companies aren’t simply looking for 400 words that sound kind of cohesive, just to fit 20 keywords in a 400 word article to boost Page Rank. Google is trying it’s best to stop these sites from reaching the top and instead encouraging high-quality, informative, interesting, educational, and CLEAN content. If you can follow these rules, you’ll be well on your way to improve your writing and land some great writing writing gigs. Since you are improving your writing style, think about increasing your rates to reflect your improvement! Heck, update your resume too, and point out your new writing style.
Take out useless and non-descriptive adjectives.
Do you really need to point out that something is “awesome” or “great” or “beautiful?” These types of words don’t really provide a meaningful description of something and is subjective. What one person thinks is beautiful, another person may not. Does the adjective really need to be there or does it sound obvious, repetitive, or like fluff or filler words? Instead of saying that a piece of furniture is beautiful or awesome, say that it is durable or inexpensive, or even expensive.
Take out useless sentences.
If your sentence doesn’t state a fact, take it out. If your sentence states the obvious, take it out. If you are writing an article about kitchen redesign, and wrote a sentence that says something like, “Redesigning your kitchen can be expensive.” That is pretty much a given. You are stating the obvious and not providing any useful facts to a person that is looking to learn more about kitchen redesign. Take this sentence right out.
Every sentence should contain at least one fact.
This goes hand in hand with the above point, but it is so essential to writing crisp, clean, and concise articles that it is important to list again. Every sentence you write should contain at least one fact, and if it doesn’t, take it out. You don’t need to say things like, “Driving a Ford F150 truck is fun.” That really doesn’t prove any factual information to the reader. And it doesn’t really tell readers much about the truck. Why is it fun? Instead, say something like, “The Ford F150 truck has 4-wheel drive designed for off-road adventures.”
Limit the number of sentences in every paragraph to 5 or 6.
Many website readers don’t want to sit and spend 20 minutes reading one article. In fact, studies show that most Internet readers only scan articles.Making your paragraphs no more than 5 or 6 sentences long helps you to make sure you stick to the important facts or points, while also making it easier for people to read. Have you ever started to read something, but skipped over those long paragraphs, maybe only reading the first sentence or two? I know I have!
Use sub-headers to improve readability.
Catering to Internet readers that typically like to scan articles instead of reading them word for word, use sub-headers to break up your articles and make it more “scan-able”. Readers can then go to the sections they are most interested in, instead of skipping your entire article because they can’t find the information that they are looking for.
These are just a few suggestions on how you can improve your writing skills and reduce the fluff in your articles. There are many great websites out there that will give you even more advice and tips. Here are some of my favorites:
11 Smart Tips for Brilliant Writing
Writing Concise Sentences (This article even has a quiz and a place to practice!)
Thanks for stressing out what are the important things to do in writing articles as well as blog post. I know sometimes I write unnecessary words just to bring more exciting on my blog. But now I realize I shouldn’t do it. Thanks for the reminders and tips!
isabella057 recently posted..All About Millstone Coffee Coupons
True that writers sometimes cannot avoid fluffs. Very helpful for all who want to write articles.. Thanks for sharing this!
Providing us this kind of information is really a big help. A lot of writers will benefit from this specially for a newbie writer like me. I will definitely follow all the tips and advice that you’ve shared with us. Thanks for the post!
Theriz26 recently posted..Will Your Arowana Or Dragonfish Bring Luck To You?
You are very welcome, Theriz26!